The Longest Yard
by Iresol
Summary: Before the movie, what made Captain Knauer the man he was in the movie?


Author's note. Ok, I just went and saw "The Longest Yard" and thought it was pretty cool, though I'll admit I like Adam Sandler movies. But I went for Mr. William Fichtner. And I was the only one cheering for him when he beat up Mr. Sandler in the movie for some oddreason. Must have been the sunglasses….or the  
nightstick. This takes place before the movie, so I got to thinking, why would he be such a violent man towards the prisoners when he is obviously a good guy? Anyway review and tell me what you think.

_Knauer sat on his bed and watched his wife get dressed._

_He watched her pull on her navy pants and white undershirt, her ankle holster and kevlar vest, he as she looked for her uniform shirt he asked, "Missing something?"_

_She looked at him and smiled, "Funny."_

_Knauer smiled, then asked, "Does that rub our child? It must."_

_Jesse looked down at the kevlar vest, her dark thick hair falling over her shoulders as she quickly looked at herself in the mirror, "Shutup. You did this to me. It's your fault I can't work for the next six months."_

_Knauer smiled and sat up, with two hours till his shift started. He rubbed his neck making his reddish blonde hair stick up in every direction. Jesse turned and stuck her tongue out at him, "Look. My brother has been giving me enough hell, not to mention I had to teach him to work with Bullet. Do you know how long I had to work with him and my dog? The dog still doesn't like him."_

_Knauer laughed, taking a look at the German Shepard that was curled on the bed beside him, "Maybe I'll luck out and Bullet will eat him."_

_Jesse grabbed the closest thing, her handcuffs from the dresser and threw them at him. The heavy metal bracelets hit him. Wincing slightly, he giggled, then sat up. "Come here baby."_

_Jesse narrowed her brown eyes, "Don't get fresh with me. Do you remember what happened last time you got fresh with me?" She pointed to her stomach to make her point. "You do realize my grandmother is from Spain, my father is a quarter Mexican, do you know what my child is going to do to my figure?"_

_"Your child?"_

_"I'm carrying it. **My Child**."_

_Knauer cocked an eyebrow and stood, Jesse let out a scream and ran into the bathroom, he followed her inside the small room. "NO! I have to get to work!" He caught her and lifted her up on the bathroom counter._

_"Come on! We just did this," she cried, but made no attempt to stop him, instead she unvelcroed her vest to help him. He took her face in his hands and began to kiss her, Jesse grinned, "You have ten minutes."  
_  
**Later that day...**

The Texas sun was hotter then hell in the summer.

Dry.

Almost unbearable.

But in the nights the desert cooled off considerably.

Captain Knauer watched the squad car drive quickly up the dirt road, the summer night was  
cool, making Goosebumps rise on his arms. Bright spotlights followed the car as it drove  
closer and closer to the prison.

Bugs buzzed around the lights.

Behind him stood three guards, there was a prisoner being transported from the jail upon  
learning his identity, by tomorrow he would be sent out to California to face his crime.

Knauer rocked back and forth on his feet, waiting.

Not for the prisoner.

He handled them all day long.

But one of the two cops inside the first car was his wife, one of the three K-9 officers  
for Allendale County. Every guard in the jail taunted and teased him. There was an  
eleven-year age difference. He thirty-six to her twenty-five. She was considerably prettier then   
he was, and a K-9 cop.

The jokes never ended.

Her brother, Horatio Ruiz, a cop, and friend of Knauer's had introduced them without his knowledge.

The second car came into view, as they came closer he noticed the first car didn't have  
his wife, but her partner and brother. And then he noticed that there was no prisoner in the car.

It never occurred to him why.

The second car was an unmarked car.

Ruiz, a thirty something man with long hair pulled in a ponytail put the car in park as he climbed out, quickly running to Knauer.

Out of breath Ruiz asked, "Did they call?"

"Who?' Knauer asked, he looked in the car and still didn't see his wife, puzzled, "Where's Jess?"

Ruiz gasped and said, "There was an accident…..with the prisoner…..she had to kill him."

It was as if someone had thrown cold water on Knauer, his eyes grew wider and wider, stunned  
he asked, "Jess?"

"She's ok. Get in the car, I'll take you to the E.R. before she gets flown out. Someone  
has to take the dog too. It's locked up in a exam room going nuts, it may come through the  
wall soon."

Without a word and numb he got in the car and shut the door, Ruiz climbed in and drove just as fast away from the prison as he drove to it.

For the first few minutes they rode in silence. Knauers thoughts were only on one, two things. It was her last day before she took maturnity leave. Her last day.

As the desert blew by Knauer finally asked, "What happened?"

Ruiz turned the police scanner down, every bump he hit made the dogs area in the back bounce. Neither man noticed.

"We were called in to find this dirt bag after he escaped….since she has the dog. We tracked  
him down and arrested him. Since our car has the back for the dog he had to be transported  
to the hospital by another car, but we followed since he's violent and probably gonna  
run." Ruiz explained, not slowing down to go over bumps, or even to yield on the public   
road, where he promptly put his lights and sirens on.

Knauer listened, silent.

"So we go and transport him to the E.R. where he gets tied down to a stretcher. I don't  
know what happened, one minute he was tied down and the next he was up….He threw the  
stretcher at me and by the time I came to Hernandez was out beside me, bleeding. The dog  
was going nuts, one of the nurses was dead, and Jesse shot him…."

Hearing the tone Knauer asked, "What? What's wrong? Is she…?"

Ruiz slowed down to fifty to make a turn and then went through a red light, then hooked a  
sharp turn as they came into a small town. "I don't know, he beat the living hell out of  
her, they were working on her when I came to get you before someone called. I wanted you to  
see her before they fly her out." Knauer knew what that meant.

Suddenly nothing mattered.

Not the lights that blew by, not the car, all he could think about was his wife. A feeling  
of complete helplessness filled him. He breathed only to find his breath was shaky. So he  
closed his eyes.

"I..I…I…I saw some of the fight….she…she got hit several times in the stomach….with a chair, a trash can, he even kicked her in the stomach." Ruiz whispered, Knauer looked over and  
saw tears streaming down Ruiz's face. A horrified look came over his face as Ruiz  
began to cry, as the hospital came into view he wiped the tears away, "I think she lost  
the baby."

Knauer's eyes began to burn, his world was coming down fast around him. In a suddenly  
smaller voice he asked his brother-in-law, "Is she…..she's ok? She'll be ok? Right?"

The silence from his brother-in-law only made it worse. Fear completely seized him.

Ruiz didn't slow until he parked in front of the E.R. doors.

Knauer was out of the car and running into the hospital as the lights and sirens kicked off, he looked around the front area and saw a crime scene.

A body dressed in a white jumpsuit, there were signs of a fight, a dog, and a gunshot wound to the chest. There was a body bag on a stretcher getting wheeled away.

The trashed area made it worse. Knowing his wife had been there, and then he saw the size of the chairs. Waiting room chairs. A coldness filled him.

He jumped when someone touched him, "Sir?"

He spun around to see a nurse. Immediately he spoke, "My wife was here…she is a K-9 officer, she killed that man, the prisoner. Where is she?"

The nurse looked at his name badge.

"Please," Knauer begged.

The nurse hesistated then spotted Ruiz as he came running into the E.R., she knew him. Ruiz had left the squad car there, he ran in, out of breath, "Jesse Ruiz...no Jesse Knauer. Where is she?"

The nurse lead both men into the E.R., past beds with people, some without, some were being worked on, and others had closed curtains. She lead both men past a closed door that had a dog going wild, barking, growling, just going nuts.

Ruiz looked to the door, Knauer didn't even notice.

She lead them down into a hall, just as a stretcher was being wheeled into a elevator. Two Doctors, four nurses and a pilot in a jumpsuit were wheeling her in. Knauer screamed for his wife as both men ran to her, one nurse grabbed Ruiz, Knauer made his way in the elevator. Which made everyone nervous. The Doctor grabbed his arm, "Sir! Sir! You cannot be in here!"

Knauer shook his head, "My wife. She's my wife!"

The Doctor looked at Knauer's badge, the mans reaction, even the concern for the officer.

"Sir. Her canine is in the E.R. in room 3."

Knauer nodded, then asked, "How is she?" He looked over his wife who was out. Her face was untouched. There were purple handprints around her neck. Her arm was broken, he knew just from the angle it was at.

As the elevator doors closed the Doctor spoke, "Her injuries are all internal. How far along is her pregnancy?"

"Three months."

From the doctors face Knauer already knew, the doctor then told him, "We're taking her out to Houston, you need to get the dog out of the E.R. before it eats the door apart."

As the elevator rose up to the roof Knauer looked down at his wife, knowing he couldn't leave the dog. Bullet didn't listen to Ruiz.

When the elevator stopped the Doctor said, "Sir, you'll have to drive, there isn't enough room for all of us."

Knauer looked at the Doctor, looking at all the people who were going to work on his wife. The Doctor saw the fear in his eyes, "Sir, don't worry. You'll see her in Houston."

Knauer watched them wheel her out of the elevator, load her up in the medical transport chopper, and then take off for a larger hospital.


End file.
